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Thursday, 14 August 2014

Starlight #5 Review (Mark Millar, Goran Parlov)

Did I not get the memo or something? Is Starlight aimed at developmentally challenged 10 year olds or something? Because I can’t believe this entire series has been as shallow as it has. But let’s focus on this, the penultimate (thank blorgon!) issue of the series: Starlight #5.

We get the unasked for and completely unimaginative origin story of why the pink haired boy hates some random dude and Duke McQueen has trouble finding a helmet to fit on his head. Then alien Fonzie leads the baddies against the goodie rebels and Duke escapes. God, I feel stupider just for writing this… the rebels are taken back to the city where the main villain, Kingfisher, is set to execute them on global TV and Duke survives the sea monster-infested waters to save the day in the next issue.

I’ve said it about other Mark Millar comics that are out at the moment - MPH, Jupiter’s Legacy - but the one thing going for them is the art. Goran Parlov’s work in this issue is outstanding, from the car crash scene of the first page, to the fight scenes, to Duke’s escape; the lines are so clean and the panels uncluttered, they’re a joy to behold.

It’s just such a shame that it’s all in service to this weak, unremarkable script. Bad guys do bad guy stuff. Not convinced they’re bad guys? Watch some bad guy kill some innocent people and orphan a young boy. They’re bad guys, get it? Bad guys wear spiked armour and horned helmets. Bad guys talk about executions on live television. Duuuh… is these guys, evil or something?

And, what do you think - with all hope seemingly lost, do you suppose Duke McQueen will somehow save the day?

I’ve kept up with this series despite not liking it much because Millar promised that it would unite all of the disparate Millarworld comics somehow. Well, it hasn’t and with one issue to go, I don’t expect it will either. Fool me for believing this comic book PT Barnum had a shred of integrity.

If you’ve been enjoying Starlight so far, you’ll still enjoy this issue. For everyone else though, Starlight #5 and the other four issues have been dull as hell to read, despite being pretty to look at. Millar’s downward spiral into atrocious writing continues!